Those That Don't Belong
by Urglegru
Summary: Alec Harlan was just trying to finish his junior year in peace, but the fates had different ideas. Soon, he is thrown into the world of Camp Half-Blood, where the demigods are still trying to track down all of the souls released onto the earth by Gaea and send them back where they belong. But this seemingly simple quest may turn out to be more dangerous than anticipated.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first ever story. Not sure how good it's going to be. It takes place the summer after the war with Gaea, and I'm obviously assuming that the demigods won. Everything will be canon compliant, and characters will be in character to the best of my ability. Anyway, please review and all that jazz, so that I will know whether or not I should continue! Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it.**

**I do not own PJO or HoO. Rick Riordan does. **

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Alec

I was having a perfectly fine day when that dog from Hell decided to show up and ruin it. We only had about a week left of school, and since my AP tests were over, there was pretty much no point in showing up anyway. The only reason I bothered to drag myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7:00 AM (I'm not exactly a morning person)was because Victor wanted me to go to class. Victor, by the way, was my dad's best friend and former colleague. He's been looking after me since I was five years old, which I guess I appreciate, but honestly the two of us don't get along all that well. Generally, we just kind of skirt around one another, which is fine by me.

I took a quick shower and made myself some toast. Victor was at work already, so I took the opportunity to eat my breakfast on the couch; Victor probably would have had a coronary if he knew. As I ate, my eyes wandered to the picture above the fireplace of my father and I. It was the last picture ever taken of him. He was crouching down and giving me a hug, his hazel eyes alight with happiness, and with my matching gaze and neat brown hair, I looked just like him (even at five years old). I always got a little sad when I looked at the photograph; I hadn't seen my dad for about eleven years now, but I still missed him and his smiling face like hell.

I finished my toast and drove to school, snagging a parking spot right by the math and science building, where I had my first period class. Little victories. I tried to yank my backpack over from the passenger seat, only to get one of the straps tangled around the hand brake and spend the next minute trying to untangle it. When I finally got that sucker loose, I heard a familiar voice to my right.

"Alec, did we have any homework for chem?" the voice belonged to Steven, a kid with whom I had a bunch of classes. My friend, I guess.

"Are you serious?" I asked him "all we ever do in that class anymore is watch movies"

"Yeah, but didn't Henderson say something about a lab?" Steven persisted.

"That was for extra credit."

"Oh, good. Because I definitely didn't do it," Steven said, sounding relieved. The bell rang, and we walked to first period chemistry. Mr. Henderson turned on _Mystery Science Theater 3000_, and a bunch of us spent the class period playing cards. Like I said, with AP tests done, there wasn't much left to do in class. This trend continued through Spanish and Calc, and our fourth period APUSH teacher let us chill out on the football field and play frisbee. I was in a decent mood going into lunch, but that's when shit started to hit the fan. I was standing in line at the cafeteria when a giant mastiff barged in through the doors. And when I say giant, I don't mean regular mastiff giant. I mean that thing was the size of a horse, with bared teeth practically falling out of its head, they were so massive. I'm pretty used to seeing weird, unexplainable stuff, so I wasn't as freaked out as I could have been, but the fact that this red-eyed demon dog was staring straight at me wasn't helping me out much. Nor was the fact that the cafeteria had erupted into laughter.

"Is that a fucking Chihuahua? Is this supposed to be the senior prank or something?" This was from Ben Welker, one of our school's resident douchebags who wasn't exactly known for his intellectual prowess, but everyone else in the cafeteria seemed pretty much in accord with him that the monster I was looking at was actually just an amusing little rat dog. Like I said, I've seen a lot of weird stuff in my life, stuff that no one else has ever seemed able to see. But this was just ridiculous. As the thing let out a bark and leaped towards me, I couldn't help but wonder whether I was going to go down in school history as the kid who got mauled by a Chihuahua.

I did the only thing that came naturally to me, and swung my hard plastic tray at the beast. I connected with its nose and it stopped for a moment, probably surprised that I had had the nerve (or stupidity) to go after it with such a meager weapon, and I took the opportunity to bolt to the doorway. I could hear the dog bounding towards me and I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun it for long, so I took a calculated risk and turned around. Not a moment too soon; the thing had just reached me, but its momentum was such that it couldn't stop quickly enough. I dropped to the floor and crawled between its huge legs as it tried to skid to a halt. I booked it back into the cafeteria, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. Damn the school district for forbidding metal utensils! Then, I remembered that the lunch crew might have some knives in the back with which to prepare the food, so I vaulted over the counter as I heard the dog making its way back over to where I was. I heard a cry of indignation from one of the lunch ladies as I pushed past her and into the kitchen. I spotted a huge butcher knife next to a chunk of uncut lunch meat and snatched it, and then I booked it back into the cafeteria. The last thing I wanted was to get trapped by the dog.

At this point, the rest of the students must have realized that there was something bad going on, because their laughter had turned into a panic. Kids were flooding out of the cafeteria, tripping over themselves to get out. Luckily for them, the thing only seemed interested in me. It lunged at me, and I took a swipe at it with my knife. My blow probably should have lopped off its muzzle, but all it did was make a bit of a cut. Black blood flowed out of the wound. _The fuck?_ I thought to myself. Soon, I was back on defense, as all the knife really seemed good for was deflecting the monster's massive teeth when it snapped at me. I took a risk and swung at it again, but this time, it raised a massive paw to deflect my blow and sent my knife spiraling to the floor. Shit. The monster growled at me and lunged, knocking to the ground and pinning me, its massive claws raking into my chest. I was lamenting the fact that my last memory was going to be of the dog's awful breath, which smelled like a dumpster full of raw, spoiled meat, when suddenly the thing let out a whimper and disintegrated. Which seemed like pretty good news to me, even though I was now covered in giant demon-dog guts.

I sat up and looked around the cafeteria, which was now empty except for me and a burly, dark haired senior. The guy was holding a long bronze blade that was mostly coated with the same crap I was. For a moment, I was at a loss for words. Then I stammered:

"You saw it too?"

To my surprise, the guy chuckled.

"Yeah, I see them too," he said, offering me a hand. I took it, and stood up, still somewhat in shock.

"Who are you?" I asked him warily.

"Jake Mason, son of Hephaestus," He said, ignoring my raised eyebrows "the better question is, who are you?"

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**Alright, there's the first chapter. I should get into Camp Half-Blood and the characters we all know and love by the next one. Please, review and let me know what you think so far! Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I meant to get the regular characters in this chapter, but it didn't really work out that way. They'll be in chapter three for sure!**

**I do not own PJO/HoO. Rick Riordan does.**

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Alec

Son of Hephaestus? Like, the Greek god Hephaestus? Who the hell names their kid that? I mean, I've heard of a few people being named after Greek and Roman mythological figures (like Apolo Ohno, and all of those women out there named Diana), but Hephaestus seemed a little too weird. And what kind of person introduces themselves like that anyway? _Hi, I'm Alexander Harlan, son of Andrew._ Yeah, that wouldn't be odd at all. Then, I remembered he had sort of asked me a question.

"Alexander Harlan" I told him, leaving out the Son of Andrew bit "you can call me Alec". I could hear noises outside the cafeteria, like footsteps. Jake seemed nervous.

"Alec, I think you'd better come with me before people show up and start asking questions. They'll think all of this damage is our fault," he said, gesturing around to the trashed cafeteria. I wasn't sure I trusted this guy, but I figured he was right. Something weird had happened, and if I stuck around, it was probably going to get blamed on me. We took the other exit out of the cafeteria and I followed him through the parking lot to his car. I hopped in the passenger seat and we tore away.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I had a lot more questions, but that one seemed the most manageable at the moment.

"My house. I have to pick up my camp stuff," he said, as though that cleared anything up "then we'll go to your place so you can pack"

"Pack for what?" I asked him, not sure how I felt about his plan.

"Camp," he replied, "you'll be safe there"

He was being infuriatingly vague.

"Can you just tell me what the hell is going on?" I snapped at him. I hated being in the dark.

"I will," Jake promised, "but right now we have to move quickly. The school will be looking for us, and there may be more monsters around"

He pulled into his driveway and told me to wait as he ran inside. He emerged about a minute later with a large backpack. He threw it in the backseat of the car and we drove off again. I hesitantly told him my address.

"Are you going to explain yourself now?" I demanded

"Not yet." he said apologetically. "When we get to your house, I need you to pack about a week's worth of clothes, and grab as much cash as you can. You might want to leave your, um... parents a note letting them know you're going to be gone for a while. And for the gods' sakes, be quick!"

He pulled up to my place and I did as he told me, emptying my school stuff out of my backpack and filling it with clothes. I put a sticky on the fridge with a quick note to Victor letting him know that I was going to be gone for a little bit, and telling him not to worry about me. I wasn't all that worried that he would. Chances were pretty good that he wouldn't even notice I was gone. I ran back out to the car and hopped in.

"Alright, where to now?" I asked, annoyed that I still had no idea what was going on.

"Airport" Jake replied as we pulled out of my driveway. For a second, I thought I must have misheard him.

"The airport? Are you fucking with me? Let me out of the car, I'm not going to the goddamn airport." I said, starting to feel a little panicked. Where was this guy trying to take me? Why the hell had I agreed to go with a nutjob who introduced himself as "Son of Hephaestus"?

"Woah, calm down, okay? Just listen to me," he implored, "You aren't safe here. The monsters have found you, and at your age, they're going to come at you like crazy now unless you get somewhere safe."

"What do you mean, monsters? Like that giant dog thing? If you don't tell me what's going on, I am out of here!" Never mind the fact that we were now going about 30 miles an hour, and jumping out of the car would seriously hurt.

"Alright, fine! Just calm down a second. Okay, you know the Greek gods? Like Zeus and Hermes and all them?" He asked me.

"Yes, I've heard of the Greek gods. What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"They're real. And so are all of the monsters from their myths. It all really happened, and it's still happening. When I said I was a son of Hephaestus, I meant I'm actually a son of Hephaestus. The Greek god." He looked at me as though expecting a blow-up. He got one.

"You are out of your mind. Certifiably insane. Let me out of the car!" I shouted at him.

"Hey, listen. Just listen!" He yelled back at me. We were on the highway now, so I couldn't really jump out of the car, though I wanted to. "You've seen monsters. You've seen unexplainable shit that no one else seems to see, haven't you? Like the hellhound in the cafeteria."

"Yeah, but-"

"No, hear me out. You can see that stuff because you're like me. You're a half-blood."

"A half-blood. Are you trying to convince me I'm also half god or some shit like that?"

"You have dyslexia. Probably ADHD. At least one of your parents isn't around."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I said, my voice shaking. How did he know all of this?

"Half-bloods' brains are hard-wired to read ancient Greek. Or Latin, if you're a Roman demigod," seeing the look on my face, he continued, "never mind. Your ADHD is actually your battle reflexes. They're what kept you alive for so long when you were fighting the hellhound. And the reason one of your parents isn't around is because one of them is a god. Gods don't really have time to raise all of their mortal children."

"That's... no. That's not right," I said "my mom died giving birth to me. My dad died in a car crash when I was five. Neither of them are gods. And I'm not a - a demigod, or half-blood or whatever you call it."

"You can call it either one," Jake said "and from the sound of it, your mom is probably your immortal parent. She's the one you've never met."

"That's absurd" I said, but not as vehemently as before. Maybe I was insane, but what he was saying sort of made sense.

"And you see things," he continued "weird stuff no one else can see. That's because you can see through the Mist. Mortals can't."

"Great, so now I get to add schizophrenia to my diagnosis?" I asked him.

"You aren't schizophrenic," he sighed "the stuff you're seeing is real."

"That's... not possible."

"I know it's hard to believe. We were all pretty shocked when we were first told. But it's true. And now that you know who you are, things are going to get a lot worse."

"First of all, I don't know anything!" yeah, that didn't really come out the way I'd intended "and second of all, what do you mean things are going to get worse?

"Your scent becomes stronger to monsters once you know who you are. I'm not sure why. That's just how it works." he paused "That's why I'm taking you to camp. I wasn't going to leave for another week, but we have to get you to safety."

"Alright, what's this camp you keep talking about then?" I demanded.

"Camp Half-Blood. It's in Long Island. It's a camp for demigods, a place where we can train and be safe from monsters."

After that, we sat in silence for a while as I processed what he was telling me. I consider myself a pretty logical guy, so my brain didn't want this Greek mythology stuff to be true, but after what I'd seen, what evidence did I have to refute what Jake was saying? After a few minutes, I piped back up.

"So which god is my parent, then?" I asked.

"I don't know," Jake admitted "It'll be one of the goddesses, since it can't have been your dad. Kids are supposed to be claimed at thirteen when they're at camp, so you'll probably get claimed almost immediately once you get there. What are you, seventeen?"

"Sixteen. I turn seventeen in June." More silence as we parked in the airport parking lot.

"So how much does a plane ticket from Portland to New York cost?" I asked. I just realized that I probably didn't have enough money with me for a flight.

"Don't worry about that," Jake said "I have a half brother who works here. He'll fly us there if I tell him it's an emergency."

We walked into the airport and Jake used a pay phone to call his brother. Apparently, cell phones attract monsters or something. Jake's brother met us about forty minutes later; he had the same burly frame as Jake, but his red hair set him apart from his younger brother.

"Jake," he said in acknowledgement of his brother. He stuck out a hand to me. "Grant Paulson" he said.

"Uh, Alec Harlan." I shook his hand.

"You're in luck, my 2:30 to Chicago was cancelled due to weather. You guys need a flight down to camp?" He asked us.

"That would be awesome, Grant," Jake said "I can't thank you enough."

I thanked him, too. Grant must have been breaking about a hundred regulations by helping us. A few minutes later, we were in his small plane (probably not the same one that was bound for Chicago) on our way to New York. It was a short and uneventful flight across New England, and when we landed, Grant shooed us off the plane quickly so that he could fly back to Maine.

"Is he going to get in trouble for helping us?" I asked Jake.

"Nah, he knows how to manipulate the Mist for emergencies. He should be able to convince them he was never gone."

We hailed a taxi to Long Island, and got off at what looked like an abandoned hill.

"Are you sure this is it?" Asked the taxi driver.

"Yeah, thanks," Jake said as he paid the cabbie.

As the taxi drove away, Jake and I made our way up the hill. A huge pine tree came into view, and as we hiked higher, I saw that there was a huge dragon curled up at its base. Maybe I am crazy, after all.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood" Jake said, and we passed the tree and walked into the camp.

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**Again, sorry for not bringing in the regular characters sooner, they'll be there soon. Thanks for reading, please review!**


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